Islamists jihadists attack prison in Congo, free over 800 inmates

More than 800 convicts were released from a jail in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Wednesday by armed assailants who are thought to be Islamic extremists.

Two police officers and a number of civilians were killed during the attack on the major prison in the city of Butembo, according to local authorities who assigned blame for the incident to an Islamist militant organisation. A fire also caused damage to a portion of the institution.
An army spokesperson in the province of North Kivu named Antony Mwalushayi claimed that security troops had effectively repelled the attackers.

“The enemy was heavily armed with a headcount of at least 80 individuals. They managed to break into the prison and free the prisoners,” Mwalushayi told reporters, without saying how many prisoners had escaped.

The Prison director Brunelle N’kasa later said 58 of 874 inmates remained.

Mwalushayi said he was confident the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) was behind the attack and assured citizens that the government would do everything possible to bring the criminal gang which has been active in eastern Congo since the 1990s, to book.